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@CricProf
Since the start of 2015, the batsman to be dropped the most in Tests is Alastair Cook, who's been dropped 17 times. No bowler has seen more drops off their bowling than Stuart Broad, who's seen 34 chances go down.

@CricProf
Since the start of 2016, Zimbabwe drop 28% of their catches in Tests, the most in the world. New Zealand only drop 14%, making them the best catchers in the world.

@CricProf
Since the start of 2015, the batsman to be dropped the most in Tests is Alastair Cook, who's been dropped 17 times. No bowler has seen more drops off their bowling than Stuart Broad, who's seen 34 chances go down.

Interesting article GBG, thanks for that. This bit caught my eye: "the best single-year result was 16.9% by South Africa in 2013, when they were the No. 1-ranked team in Tests". Coincidence? Perhaps not. The writer also has nuff respect for Chris "God" Read, though he doesn't say whether the catches that went down when Read left them for first slip were counted as Read's misses or first slip's.

Interesting article GBG, thanks for that. This bit caught my eye: "the best single-year result was 16.9% by South Africa in 2013, when they were the No. 1-ranked team in Tests". Coincidence? Perhaps not.

2013 would have been just after Boucher retired. So losing the best statistical keeper actually improved South Africa's overall fielding!

I think Boucher's stats benefited from South Africa having a predominantly pace based bowling attack (which is also likely to have been a factor in South Africa being no.1 ranked), but over than bowling pace instead of spin, I wonder if the biggest impact on a team's fielding performance wouldn't be by replacing the keeper with a specialist (such as a Colin Metson or Keith Piper figure who batted 10) but replacing one of the weaker fielders with more of a gun fielder. Most non-Akmal batsman-keepers are still relatively competent with the gloves so the difference in catches taken between a Prior/Bairstow/Read selected for their batting and a Russell/Foster selected for their keeping is minimal. There may actually be a greater gain by dropping a Monty Panesar for an Ashley Giles or a Vince/Stoneman for a James Taylor type.

2013 would have been just after Boucher retired. So losing the best statistical keeper actually improved South Africa's overall fielding!

I think Boucher's stats benefited from South Africa having a predominantly pace based bowling attack (which is also likely to have been a factor in South Africa being no.1 ranked), but over than bowling pace instead of spin, I wonder if the biggest impact on a team's fielding performance wouldn't be by replacing the keeper with a specialist (such as a Colin Metson or Keith Piper figure who batted 10) but replacing one of the weaker fielders with more of a gun fielder. Most non-Akmal batsman-keepers are still relatively competent with the gloves so the difference in catches taken between a Prior/Bairstow/Read selected for their batting and a Russell/Foster selected for their keeping is minimal. There may actually be a greater gain by dropping a Monty Panesar for an Ashley Giles or a Vince/Stoneman for a James Taylor type.

That I would suggest would be very much dependent on the makeup of the team and plausible gun fielders who aren't playing. In England case having Cook and Root as our primary slip fielders really limits our chance of becoming a side that's top of the chances taken table!

... I wonder if the biggest impact on a team's fielding performance wouldn't be by replacing the keeper with a specialist (such as a Colin Metson or Keith Piper figure who batted 10) but replacing one of the weaker fielders with more of a gun fielder. Most non-Akmal batsman-keepers are still relatively competent with the gloves so the difference in catches taken between a Prior/Bairstow/Read selected for their batting and a Russell/Foster selected for their keeping is minimal. There may actually be a greater gain by dropping a Monty Panesar for an Ashley Giles or a Vince/Stoneman for a James Taylor type.

I sometimes wonder whether Panesar's best fielding position might have been in the slips. Perhaps the best way of a team maximising its fielding potential without change in personnel would be to put the players in the positions that suit them best, rather than just putting the high-status players (i.e., the established batsmen) in the slips where they can stand around chatting all day and the low-status players in other positions where they have to run around and stuff.

Misses higher than I thought but Broad has had over a quarter of chances missed of him, no wonder he's grumpy. In the article they say he and James Anderson have suffered an unusually high number of drops.